The present invention relates to apparatus and methods of their operation for opening envelopes and extracting the contents thereof and, more particularly, to an envelope opening apparatus and method of the single station or single operator type which opens the envelopes on three sides and presents their contents for extraction to a single operator.
Envelope opening machines can generally be categorized into two basic categories. The first category is the multi-station machine which is a very large, complex and expensive machine which opens envelopes and presents them to multiple stations at which personnel sit to sort the opened mail. The second category is the smaller, more compact and economic machine which utilizes a single operation station or, at best, two operator stations.
Within the second category of single operator stations, there are currently in commercial use a series of envelope opening machines which open the envelopes on one edge or two edges. Such machines are manufactured and sold by Opex Corporation of Cherry Hill, New Jersey and/or Mail-Ex Corporation of Connecticut. Examples of such machines are those as illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,979,884 and 4,333,300.
Envelope opening machines such as the foregoing operate on the principle of first opening the envelopes, either on the single side or on two sides, at an opening station and then intermittently moving the envelopes in a stroking manner to an extraction station. At the extraction station, vacuum fingers utilizing suction cups are employed to engage the envelope panels and then pull them apart and pause during which time the operator then extracts the contents whereupon the vacuum cups then release the sides of the envelope and the envelope is then conveyed to a disposal station. Thereafter, the next envelope is brought to the extraction station in the stroking mode of operation.
Machines of the vacuum-stroking nature have distinct disadvantages. One significant disadvantage is that the extraction time is small. There is only one envelope presented to the operator at a time for extraction and the period of extraction is only that portion of the total cycle time during which the vacuum fingers engage and pull apart the envelope panels. A second significant disadvantage is that the vacuum fingers very often permit the vacuum to bleed through the panels of the envelope and attract or hold the contents of the envelope against one of the panels creating difficulty on behalf of the operator in extracting the contents.
Efforts have been made to eliminate the foregoing disadvantages of the vacuum-stroking machines. One such machine is that known as the Speed Track manufactured by Bell and Howell. Another is that known as the RX machine manufactured and sold by Mail-Ex Corporation of Connecticut.
The Bell and Howell machine pulls the side panels apart by vacuum fingers and then attempts to maintain the contents upright by means of directing the presumably upstanding contents into a set of guide rails as the envelope moves before the operator. However, again often the contents stick to the sides of the envelope or the envelopes are not entirely opened and a jam is occurred as the envelope approaches the rails. Additionally, in the Bell and Howell machine, the envelopes are brought to the extraction station in spaced sequence inasmuch as the opening mechanism is a stroking type of opening operation.
The Mail-Ex RX machine does not utilize vacuum but uses diverging adhesive belts. The envelopes are opened on three sides at a series of opening stations and thereafter the belts fed into the diverging adhesive belts in space relationship. Again, the envelopes therefore move in front of the operator in spaced relationship from one another and thus, create the disadvantage in that a longer extraction area is required to accommodate a given number of opened envelopes. Additionally in the RX machine, the adhesive often fails to secure the envelope panels properly and the envelopes tend to close back up again presenting extraction difficulty to the operator.